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Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s5: E. Nomadic Castes

Indische Paläographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s5

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German

Contents

E. Nomadic Castes

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community for the plough and for milking. These, for the most part, are either stationary, or, when they move, merely camp for a few months of the dry season on recognised grazing grounds not far from their village. The Cāraṇ, mentioned in connection with the duties of Bard and Genealogist, is, undoubtedly a nomad in some of its sections, and, in this respect, it shares the habits of the Banjārā, to whom it is probably akin. The latter, with its branch known as the Lavāṇā, Lambhāni, Lambāḍi or Labāṇā, is the great bullock-dealer and carrier by pack-animal for the whole of upper India, and colonies of it have settled in the Dekkan and as far south as Mysore. The use of bullocks as a means of transport is an ancient custom in India but it received its great impetus from the Muslim invaders, who engaged large gangs of Banjārā to accompany their forces from north to south. Similarly, the British armies in their earlier campaigns trusted to the Banjārā trains for their commissariat and forage supplies, and found the Nāik, or gang-leaders, fully up to the work and worthy of confidence. It is not certain how the Banjārā came to be settled in Rohilkhaṇḍ and its neighbouring Tarāi, but their own tradition is that they belong to northwest Rājputāna, and were driven out of their native country. They also once settled in Oudh, but were displaced by Rājputs. In their present capacity, however, they emerged into notice from their Tarāi home.

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The titles of their subdivisions, which are very numerous, indicate in some instances, a desert origin, a hypothesis which is borne out by their appearance. They are usually a tall, sinewy race, their women especially being remarkable for their powerful physique. Their dress, too, is that of the west rather than of Hindūstān, and one of their sub-castes bears the distinctively western appellation of Cāraṇ. The Lavāṇa, again, another section, indicates by its connection with salt a trade from the coast or Sāmbhar lake. The colonies above referred to appear to have been left in the south after expeditions by various Muslim leaders across the continent to the Dekkan and Karnatic. The settlers seem to have made no attempt to regain the north, but acquired land, and to some extent adopted the vernaculars of their neighbours. It is said, however, that the primitive customs and beliefs of the tribe are more carefully maintained by the Dekkan than by the North-country Banjāra. Other branches are found in Central India and the Panjāb. One section has been converted to Islam, under the name of Turkiyā, a title which has led, by one of the humours of the Census, to its being numbered amongst the Osmanli and other Turks, though the farthest region to which it ascribes its origin is Mūltān. In the Panjāb, too, a good many Banjārā are called Sikhs, but this refers to the creed of Nānak, rather than to the more exclusive doctrines of Guru Govind.

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Nānak, indeed, is one of the names most revered amongst the Banjārā even as far as the Dekkan. In upper India some of the tribe have settled down to trade and money-lending. The Vanjārī of the Marāṭhā country, too, are to a great extent cultivators, and for some generations have been scarcely distinguishable from their Kunbī neighbours. The traditional calling of the tribe has been greatly curtailed by the extension of railway communication, but a good business is still done, especially where it can be combined with the rearing and sale of stock to the peasantry, as in Oudh and upper India generally. In the tracts where the gangs are organised for travel, the old system of Ṭāṇḍā, or gang-circuits is retained, and no Ṭāṇḍā is allowed to journey over the sphere allotted to another. In the Dekkan, indeed, the partition is said to be not unconnected with predatory excursions by the lower class of Banjārā. The Lavāṇā, under its various designations, is sometimes treated as a separate caste, and is not often found alongside of the Banjārā. But it appears to be nothing more than one of the older divisions of the main community, which has kept to the west and south. In the Karnatic, for instance, the title Banjārā is unknown, and the Lambāḍi, or Lambhāni, occasionally called Sūkali, pursues its avocation alone, though on a lower plane than his comrade in the north. He maintains, however, his reputation as a cattle-doctor, as well as that of an expert in sorcery and witchcraft.

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This last attribute is acquired, it is said, in the course of a wandering life, exposed to all weathers in jungles and other unhealthy localities. Strange diseases make their appearance only to be accounted for by the agency of witchcraft, and the old women of the Ṭāṇḍā, accordingly, go in considerable risk of their lives. In compensation, perhaps, the Banjārā is the only caste in which the women are said habitually to take the big walking-staff to their husbands. There is a small caste, the Thōrī, which performs in the lower Himālaya the duties of carriage undertaken in the plains by the Banjārā or Lavāṇā. They are connected with the latter, and apparently ply their trade in the same tracts in north Rājputāna, of which tract they say they are natives. But there is another caste of the same name which is allied to the Ahēṛī, if not identical with them, and these are altogether lower in rank and pursuits, being mostly fowlers, or at best, mat-makers, along the Indus. In Central India and the north Dekkan, even as far as Mysore, there are still a few bands of the once noted Peṇḍhārī freebooters, now engaged like Banjārā in the carrying trade. Originally, the Peṇḍhārī were no more than a collection of all sorts of foreign Muslim disbanded from the Delhi army, and linked together for the common purpose of raiding villages and travellers. They are now a small caste by themselves, and give little or no trouble to the police.

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They have a Chief who rules a small State in Mālvā, but there is no longer any bond between him and the wandering gangs.

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§ 70. **Shepherds and Woolworkers** (4,265,600). These two occupations go together, and are exercised by several communities of considerable numerical importance. Their social rank varies a good deal, but, in spite of alleged descent from the Jādav family of Mathurā which some of them claim, they stand, on the whole, lower than the breeders of horned cattle. There are, however, exceptions, such as the Gaḍḍi of the Panjāb Himālaya, who are of the same stock as the Khatrī, and rank but little below the Hill Rājputs. They are admittedly wellborn, and state that they were driven from northern Rājputāna by the Muslim and took refuge in the Kāngra and Chamba hills. Like all the shepherd classes, they weave the wool of their herds, both sheep and goats, into strong homespun and blankets. They are also credited with being very skilful and industrious cultivators of the upland regions affected by them. They have no connection with the caste of the same name along the Jamnā, which is Muslim and a branch of the Ghōsī, mentioned above amongst the cattle-breeding castes. The chief shepherd caste of the Ganges valley is the Gaḍariyā, or Gaṛēṛī, as it is called in Bihār. In that Province it ranks higher than in the west, but its home is alleged to be in the latter, and some of its divisions derive their origin from Marāṭhā shepherd clans who came north through Mālvā and Gvalior. One of the chief shrines at which the caste worships is in the last named State.

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The name of the caste is said to come from the Sanskrit name of the country, Gandhāra (or Kandahār) from which the animal was said to have been introduced into India. Judging from physical appearance, however, the Gaḍariyā and, except the Gaḍḍī, the shepherd castes generally, have much more Kōl or Dravidian blood in them than the western cattle-breeder. The Dhaṅgar of the Marāṭhā country, indeed, is by some identified with the Dhāṅgar, or Orāon, of the eastern portion of the Central Belt, a large tribe which is thought, mainly on linguistic grounds, to have pushed its way up north from the Karnatic. Even in the present day, too, the Dhaṅgar build their shrines in the same way and of the same sort of unhewn stones as the Kuṟubar of the Karnatic, a once dominant tribe of the south, to which belonged the Kadamba dynasties of Banavāsi in Kanara and the Pallava dynasties of the Tamil country. The Dhaṅgar are now, however, a Marāṭhi-speaking community, hardly to be distinguished from their Kunbī neighbours. The Holkar Chief of Indore belongs to this caste, and still enjoys hereditary grazing rights in parts of the Dekkan and some of the best of S'ivaji's celebrated "Māvalī" troops were Dhaṅgar. Some of the Dhaṅgar return themselves as Hātkar, a title for which more than one definition is available.

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In some cases, as in the south Dekkan, the Hātkar may by now be a subcaste, as those who use the name are almost all blanket weavers, whereas the Dhaṅgar does not always make up his own material. The derivation of the caste title is uncertain. It has been connected with "*dhan*" wealth, or cattle-dealing, an occupation which a few of them still follow in the south, though most devote themselves to sheep and goats. In those parts, it should be mentioned in connection with the above derivation, the peasant habitually refers to his cattle as Dhan, or Lakṣmī, that is, the pecunia, or wealth par excellence. The name of the Kuṟubar, too, is used for sheep in Kanarese. In the south, the caste is called Kuṟumban. There are two sections; the pastoral and the Kāḍu, or Jungle, Kuṟubar. The latter are hunters and dwellers on the outskirts of the Nīlgiri and other forest ranges, and are still in a very unsettled condition. They are probably the remnants left behind when the Kuṟubar of the open country swept down towards the south-east, and took to cultivation. Even now, the shepherd sections have elaborate rites and forms of worship alien to those of the rest of the villagers, and are regarded as not quite assimilated into the community. The Tamil shepherd is the Iḍaiyan or those who live by the "middle" group of the village lands, that is, the pasture. By some of the modern members of the caste the name is derived from Jādav, connecting them with Mathurā and the Kṛṣṇa legend.

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Unfortunately for this tradition, the names of their subdivisions in some cases connect them with the Paraiyan. Their present rank, however, is far above that of the latter, and they are received by respectable castes, in view, it is stated, of their use in the provision of clarified butter, a pure and popular article in the household. The Bharvāḍ of Gujarāt, belongs, apparently, to the Mēr, one of the derelicts of a Scythian inroad, which left them in Sindh and the west of Rājputāna. This caste shares with the Khaḍvā Kaṇbī the peculiarity of celebrating its marriages only at long intervals, such as 10, 15 or even 20 years. The occasion, as may be reasonably supposed, is one of prolonged and uproarious revelry, mingled with elaborate ceremonial, the details of which are doubtless of considerable ethnological interest. The Bharvāḍ is also connected with the Rābārī, already mentioned as the camel-breeder of Rājputāna. They worship goddesses, especially Mātā, under various manifestations, and have the usual reputation of wanderers for remarkably potent spells and charms, which ensures them respect. Nearly all these castes, north and south, are the subject of proverbs commenting upon the stupidity of their men and the slovenliness or dirt of their women. The last attribute may be due to the practice of wearing homespun woollen garments, the durability of which exceeds the means or desires of the wearer for purification.

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In addition to their dealings in woollen fabrics and, amongst some castes, the provision of sheep and goats for slaughter, the shepherd earns a good deal by the sale of the manure of his flock. In upper India it is the practice to sweep the place where the latter was penned for the night, and sell the results. In the south, the utilisation of the product is more complete, and an occupant pays the shepherd for penning for so many nights upon the sites selected for the purpose.

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**§ 71. Earthworkers and Well-sinkers** (1,284,300). Socially speaking, there is a noteworthy gap between the pastoral castes and the rest of the nomads, of whom the navvies or earthworkers by profession stand first. Indeed, except for their dirty habits and their addiction to rats and other unclean food, these last would occupy the place to which their skill and industry entitle them. They are practically of one origin under various titles. In the Dravidian country, where they are most numerous, they are called Oṭṭan in Tamil, and Vaḍḍar in Telugu and Kanarese. It is by the name of Ōḍ or Ōḍiā that they are known north of the Dekkan, up to the Panjāb. The derivation usually accepted in the south is from Oṛiya, formerly Ōḍra, and now Orissa, as it was from that region that these gangs are said to have first emanated. Their appearance shows that they belong to the darker race, and their language, though modified by distance into a variety of local dialects, has a Telugu basis. In the south, the Vaḍḍar are generally found in two subdivisions, which do not eat together or intermarry. The first, and higher section are the Kallu, or stone quarriers, who are stationary, and abide by their quarries. The others, called Maṇṇu, or earthy, Vaḍḍar, are migratory, and seek jobs upon large undertakings, working together in their own gangs, by the piece, in the manipulation of which standard they show marvellous resource and ingenuity. They are adepts with their large spades, and no unskilled labour can touch them in the output, either on the flat or in well-sinking. The Ōḍiā reached the Panjāb through Rājputāna, and seem to have gradually worked their way up by stages, until they found a supply of work which maintains them throughout the year. Thus they do not, like many of the migratory tribes, return to their native country, but settle in the Province. In the upper parts of the Jamnā valley, for instance, they seem to have given up their traditional pursuit and taken to weaving coarse cotton wrappers, with a little cultivation thrown in. Here, too, they have assimilated the local religion, and with the exception of a few details and ritual, do not keep up their own peculiar customs. Amongst other refinements, they have raised the standard of their diet, and abjure pork, one of their favourite meats in the south. In the Panjāb a good many have been converted to Islām, especially those on quarry work. There is one other caste which shares with the Ōḍiā the work of the navvy, *viz.* the Bēldār, or the wielder of the Bēl, or mattock. This caste too, works at both stone and earth, and it seems probable that it is a branch of the Ōḍiā, detached locally, for the Bēldār of Bihār and Oudh has an Ōḍ sub-caste, and also eats rats. In the Panjāb, too, the two communities are considered to be identical, Bēldār being merely a functional title. On the other hand, in Bihār and its neighbourhood it is thought that the Bēldār is a branch of the Nūniyā, or saltpetre-maker, which, in turn, is an offshoot of the labouring caste of the Bind. The Bēldār of Bengal works to a great extent in the coal-mines. Like the Ōḍiā, he carries on his head the earth excavated, and will not degrade himself by putting the basket upon his back or shoulder. The Kōṝā, on the contrary, his only rival in this class of work, despises the Bēldār for not using the shoulder-pole and carrying two baskets at once. All the same, the Bēldār holds the higher position and employs a better class of Brāhman. The Kōṝā, or Khairā, a sub-tribe of the Muṇḍā race, is closer to his tribal associations, and the Brāhmans who minister to this caste are put out of communion by their kind. A few other castes have taken to earth-work as their profession, but they are chiefly small subdivisions of a larger tribe, such as the Bāvariyā, who traditionally follow other callings.

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§ 72. **Knife-Grinders etc.** (37,000). There are a few small castes which may be fairly termed travelling artisans rather than gipsies, since there is no stigma attached to them personally nor is their calling held to be a mere cover for criminal means of gain. The Ṣaiqalgar, or Sikligar, for example, is a Muslim caste which travels throughout the open season grinding knives and scissors, and at other times plies in the cities. A subdivision undertakes the care of razors. In old times the Ṣaiqalgar was the armourer and polisher of weapons, but he is now in sadly reduced circumstances. The Ghisāḍī is a small Brāhmanic caste of the Dekkan, corresponding to the Ṣaiqalgar but of lower origin, probably from Gujarāt. The Khūmrā is another small Muslim caste of upper India the function of which is to quarry and sell the querns or millstones for domestic use. They are hewn at the quarry and hawked about on pack-animals. The roughening of the face of the stone after it has been in use a long time is in Central India and the Dekkan, the work of another caste, the Ṭākārī or Ṭākankar, Brāhmanist by faith and nomad by habit. The Khūmrā's conduct is above reproach, but the Ṭākārī is said to utilise the time he spends squatting on the premises where he is employed in scrutinising the extent and disposition of the moveable property of the household, with a view to a further visit by night, for its removal. The caste is affiliated to the great tribe of wandering hunters, called Bāvarī or Vāghrī, to be mentioned later, and seems to have entered the Dekkan from Gujarāt or Central India, as its members keep aloof from the Pārdhī, or hunting tribes of the south, and speak a dialect resembling Gujarātī.

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§ 73. **Bamboo-Workers** (295,200). The making of mats, brushes and weavers' combs is an occupation associated with a gipsy life, not only in India but wherever these nomadic tribes have established themselves, and generally connotes an inclination towards burglary or at least petty larceny. In the east, moreover, the girls of the castes in question are usually engaged in ministering to the sexual pleasures of the lower classes and even of those of the upper who dare to run the risk of excommunication from their caste. There is a more or less definite line drawn, however, in India between these castes and those, equally low and impure, who devote themselves exclusively to working in bamboo, a plant which in several cases has become the totem of the whole tribe, and is wor-

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shipped accordingly at the annual caste gatherings. With the exception of the Tūrī of Bengal, who are a branch of the great Muṇḍā tribe, most of the cane-workers of eastern and northern India belong to the Ḍōm. But, as has been already mentioned, the subdivisions which have taken to this work are generally settled on the outskirts of villages, not wandering like the rest, and give themselves the name of Bansphōṛā, Basōr, or otherwise, in token of their profession. In upper India they admit outsiders into their community after payment of scot and submission to initiation. In Bengal, the Bansphōṛa are said to be derived from the Pāṭnī, or fishing tribe of the Ḍōm. The Tūrī just mentioned are practically a functional branch of the Muṇḍā, and keep up their tribal exogamous customs and divisions, worshipping the tribal gods under Brāhmanic auspices, and with some regard for Brāhmanic precepts as to feeding with other castes. The Dharkār of the south Ganges valley are also not far removed from the forest tribe, but have settled round villages, and employ the Baigā priests, or, at best, the Ōjhā, a degraded Brāhman of non-Āryan origin. They are considered a much less settled and civilised community than the Bansphōṛā Ḍōm, but are credited with similar descent. In the Dekkan and south the Burūḍ and Mēdar are similar castes, some of which are settled, others wander during the open season and settle near villages for the rains. The Mēdar are chiefly found in the eastern Telugu districts, and claim to be Oṛiya by origin. They have subdivisions which never wander, and are gradually asserting themselves to be Balija, employing Brāhmans and prohibiting their widows from remarrying. The Burūḍ also are of Telugu or Kanarese origin, and where settled in the Dekkan are often Liṅgāyats. In the Tamil country the corresponding caste is called Vedakkāran, and is probably an offshoot of the northern community.

§ 74. Mat and Basket Makers

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These callings, as just mentioned, are often, if not usually, the cover for less reputable means of livelihood, amongst which fortune-telling is one of the more respectable. Most of them admit recruits from higher castes, a form of accretion which generally arises from illicit connections with women of the caste, some of whom appear to be specially attractive even to those far above them in rank. Thus all the larger bodies are much subdivided, and the general tie between the communities is very loose. The Kanjar, for instance, of upper India, has a section which has never emerged from the jungle or hunting stage, whilst others never go far from the villages, and make their living by the manufacture of weavers' brushes, winnowing fans and the reed-mats used for their own tents and the tilts of the peasants' waggons during the rains. They also cut querns like the Khūmrā, and make leaf-platters like the Bārī, and stretch the skins of small animals for drums. They are said to reserve a certain number of their girls for marriage within the community and to prostitute the rest. As a rule, they haunt the Jamnā valley and the east Panjāb, but gangs are found to the south, whither they penetrated by way of Central India, and enjoy a reputation even worse than in the north. As in all castes of this description, the women enjoy a position of much authority, owing, it is said, to the frequent absence of their husbands in the seclusion of the district Jail. If the incarceration be for a long period, a temporary connection with another member of the caste is formed to bridge the interval. Most of the castes are Brāhmanist of a low type, worshipping the local goddesses, and not troubling the Brāhman. In the south, the great gipsy tribes are the Koraca, Korava or Kuṛavan and the Yerukala. These used to be considered identical, and no doubt they come from the same Telugu stock. They are now separate, however, in both customs and intercourse. Of the two, the Yerukala, of Telingāna, are the more respectable, though the difference is not great. They have considerable repute as fortune-tellers in addition to their skill at reed and cane work, but their habit of travelling with a considerable herd of pack-animals and sometimes pigs, like the Kanjar, renders them unwelcome visitors in the neighbourhood of the village crops, which suffer from their depredations. One of the larger subdivisions of the Koraca derives its title from the carriage of salt from the coast, and still travels to some extent in that line. They are superior to the northern tribes in regard to the chastity of their women, so far as outsiders are concerned, though their facilities for divorce inside their own body have on several occasions been brought to the notice of the Civil Courts of the Madras Presidency. The Thōrī of Gujarāt are few in number and probably allied to the Vāghrī, a hunting tribe from the north. They make and sell bedsteads and mat-work, and live about in small tents, like the Koraca, using the ass as their means of transport. The Kaikāḍī are probably a north Dekkan branch of the Koraca.

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§ 75. **Mimes etc.** (48,000). Owing to the subdivisions of these castes and the uncertainty as to their origin the figures obtained from the Census are probably far from accurate. The Bahurūpiyā, for instance, or the caste of many faces, is merely a functional body in the Panjab, and the caste going by that title is a division of the Mahtam, a hunting caste, which is said to have got the name from the variety of the ways in which it picks up its living. In the Ganges valley, on the other hand, the Bahurūpiyā is a sub-caste of the Banjārā, and takes brides from the Naṭ, another gipsy tribe, but gives none in return. The Mahtam too, are connected with the Labāṇā of the Panjāb, so it is not unlikely that the Bahurūpiyā are really of the latter blood. This caste stands much higher than the Bhāṇḍ, or Buffoon, who plies his trade about the mansions of the great, like the jesters of old, and with even greater freedom of speech. Indeed, the ill-temper of the Bhāṇḍ is proverbial, mainly because of the peculiarly offensive manner in which he gives vent to it. In the Panjāb the caste is recruited largely from the Mīrāsī, whose name is sometimes retained as well as that of the trade. The Bhavaīō of Gujarāt, is an acting caste, and performs comedies at weddings or other festivals before any village audience subscribing for it. The company is often attached to the village, as part of the establishment. They have the tradition of having once held a higher position in the north, but are now a purely local institution, and owing to confusion of nomenclature, perhaps, their full strength has not been recorded. The Gōndhaḷī of the Marāṭhā country is an itinerant ballad-singer, and dances a special set of figures in honour of a goddess at weddings and private entertainments.

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§ 76. **Drummers** (206,200). The ceremonial drummer of a village or temple has been referred to as usually belonging to one of the resident low castes, and is generally upon the village staff. There are others, however, who are more strictly professional upon this instrument, and wander about for their living. The Dafālī, for instance, and the Nagarcī, of the Ganges valley, are Muslim, with a sort of religious flavour about their performances. The former expel spirits as well as extorting alms. The Dhōlī of Rājputāna, like the Bajānīā of Gujarāt, are Brahmanist functional

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castes, recruited from the village menial and scavenging classes. The Turāhā blow horns and are only found in Bengal.

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**§ 77. Jugglers and Acrobats etc.** (235,800). There are numerous bodies of jugglers, tumblers, snake-charmers and the like, each with a different name, but all connected, at least in upper India, under the general title of Naṭ or Bāzīgar. It is difficult to say how far the former is the designation of a caste or of a function. In the Panjāb, for instance, Naṭ is usually held to be a caste, and Bāzīgar the branch of it which takes to juggling and tumbling. In the Gangetic region, again, the Bāzīgar is a subdivision of the Naṭ, like Badī, Sāpērā, Kabūtarā, denoting different performances. Then, in Bengal, the Naṭ or Nār is a caste of trained musicians and dancers of much higher position and accomplishments, and quite distinct from the nomad of the same name. Further to the south, there are the Dombar or Dommara, of the Telugu country, who are identical with the Kōlhāṭī of the Dekkan, both sharing the occupations and traditions of the Naṭ of the north. In addition to their acrobatic and similar performances, the greater portion of these communities live by the manufacture of horn articles, by hunting the wild pig and by prostituting their women. They hold themselves above the Dōm and village tanner, but almost invariably feed on vermin or carrion. Except in the Panjāb, their appearance is that of the dark races of the Central Belt, and, indeed, a good many of the clans say that their original home was amongst the Gōṇḍ tribes of the eastern parts of the Central Provinces. There are, necessarily, different grades amongst them and the distinctions are strictly maintained, but most will admit members of higher castes upon payment of a caste-feast or other means of establishing a footing. They are not by any means all criminal, though most are credited with the propensity to break into houses and steal fowls and cattle when the opportunity occurs. The small section of the Gōpāl, for instance, of the Dekkan, is a notorious cattle-lifter. In some of the sub-castes of Naṭ only the men perform. In others the women are kept for the tribe, and do not prostitute themselves to outsiders. This, however, is exceptional. In one of the sections, the women are experts in tattooing, and act as professionals in this art for other castes, as the Koraca do in the south. About three fourths of the Naṭ are Brāhmanists of a low type, with their own special deities and forms of worship. Occasionally they obtain the good offices of Brāhmans, if only to fix the lucky day for their ceremonies. Their jungle origin is indicated in a good many cases by their knowledge of roots and herbs as medicines, together with their possession of secret preparations of repute as aphrodisiacs, love-philters and the means of procuring abortion, for all of which there is a certain and constant demand amongst the better classes.

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**§ 78. Thieves** (133,500). Along with the above may be taken the castes which have little or no means of livelihood except stealing. In some cases this general condemnation must be qualified, as the same caste may be criminal in one locality but innocent in another. The Bāvariyā, for instance, is simply a fowling caste in the Panjāb, where it is most numerous in that capacity; but the Bāvarī or Bāgariyā of Central India and the north Dekkan, where it has several sub-titles, is always under the eye of the police during its travels. The Bēḍiyā, again, bears a very bad character along the Jamnā and in Oudh, but has quite respectable sub-castes in Bengal, where many have accepted Islām. Another sub-caste, however, the Māl, is closely connected with the Kōl race, and is credited, indeed, with the parentage of the whole Bēḍiyā community. In upper India that relationship is obscured if not contradicted by the affinity of all these castes, such as the Bēḍiyā, Habūrā and the like, with the Saṅsiyā, the thief par excellence, of the north. The exploits of the last-named community have given it a celebrity which is not justified by its numerical strength, though owing to its subdivisions it is difficult to ascertain the latter. The Saṅsiyā stands in curious relationship to the Jāṭ tribe, each family of which has its Saṅsī genealogist. When a question arises in connection with pedigree it is said that the word of the Saṅsī is accepted in preference to that of the Mīrāsī.

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It is not easy to trace the origin of this parasitic attachment of the degraded caste to the undoubtedly pure and foreign body, especially as this is the only function of the Saṅsiyā which does not bring the caste into unfriendly contact with the police. The women, no doubt, sell roots and herbs, but their object in so doing is said to be merely to get access to the inside of the domicile, and thus obtain information conducive to burglary by their husbands. In contradistinction to the practice of the Naṭ, the Saṅsiyā women are said to be chaste in their relations with outsiders, like the European gipsies, and very staunch in their defence of their male relatives when trouble is imminent. They thus enjoy much influence in the tribal councils, and, owing to the natural timidity of the caste in applying for the protection of the law, these councils practically regulate all the affairs and disputes of the community. It is hardly necessary to say that their religion is of the most simple, and that they feel bound to call in outside spiritual aid only in cases where the ghost or demon of the locality has caused serious illness or bad luck. A few of them have been converted to Islām, but one large section asserts its Rājput origin and keeps aloof from the rest of the tribe.

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On the other hand, it has been found advisable to form a subdivision to meet the case of the half-breeds, sprung from outsiders who have been admitted into Saṅsiship, generally owing to devotion to a girl of the tribe. The small caste of the Habūrā, along the upper Ganges and Jamnā, is allied to the so-called Rājput section of the Saṅsiyā, and keeps up regular Rājput sept divisions. It resembles the parent tribe in its care of the women and disregard of the rights of property, but it seems to be rather more Brāhmanised in its customs and is less given to crimes of violence. In the thieves' latin of all these criminal tribes of the north, it is interesting to trace the strong element of corrupt Gujarātī found throughout, and the same feature is noticeable in the slang of the north Dekkan tribes of this class, as if the western Vindhya had been the nucleus of errant criminality among the Kōl races. In the Dekkan itself and the Karnatic, the only tribes of this class are the small communities of Bhāmṭiyā, Uclī or Ganṭicōr, habitual pilferers, but not further advanced in crime. They are settled in some strength in Poona and its neighbourhood, where their calling has proved so lucrative that several have become large landholders. The railway has been the making of them, as they travel in disguise over the length and breadth of the country, cutting purses and slitting up bundles and carpet bags on their way.

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They are of Teliṅgāna origin, and still keep up their worship of Yellama, the Earth-goddess, of their home. The Sanaurhiyā, another travelling fraternity of the same pursuits, do not appear in the Census returns, since they return themselves as Sanādh Brāhmans. They are a composite community recruited from all sorts of castes, but now bound together by the usual caste regulations, including one prohibiting all crimes of violence. Their head-quarters are in Bundēlkhaṇḍ, but they are mostly on the move in disguise, with a few of their more wealthy members established in the chief towns to act as receivers of the goods obtained on the journey. Herein they differ from the Saṅsiyā, who will not venture into the town, but concert a meeting in the open field with a Sōnār or other respectable member of society, with whom the bargain is made, and the goods delivered accordingly.

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§ 79. **Hunters and Fowlers** (977,600). This is a group which in one direction is merged in that of the lower cultivators and field-labourers, and in the other undoubtedly tends towards that of the petty criminal. The same caste may have a branch in one province entirely devoted to settled village life, whilst in another part of the country it is still in the jungle or nomadic stage. So far as upper India is concerned, there seems reason to think that most of the hunting castes of the present day take their origin amongst the dark race of the western Vindhya. Their own traditions point, as a rule, to north Rājputāna as their native country, but as the south is approached, the hills of Mālva and the west assert their influence, and relationship to the Bhīl or other Kōl tribe is claimed. Several of the tribes take their name from some implement of their trade, usually the net or noose, as in the case of the Vāghrī, Valaiyan and Bāvariyā, and the Phāṅsī-Pārdhī, of the west, without any indication of their parentage. The Bāvariyā is a particularly varied community. It has all the appearance of Kōl descent, even in the Panjāb, where it has long been established. Here the caste is said to have come from Mēvāḍ and Ajmer. It is subdivided into three sections, only one of which still gets its living by the noose. Of the rest, one has taken to cultivation, and the other to vagrancy and petty crime.

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They are all by heredity good trackers, and though foul in their diet, not badly looked upon by their neighbours when they are settled. Along the Jamnā, however, their character deteriorates, or more correctly perhaps, has not yet risen to the level it reaches further from its native haunts. It is, however, fairly well Brāhmanised, though it keeps to its own worship. The higher castes are, as usual, admitted on payment of the cost of a feast, or even by eating with the members of the tribe. One of the subdivisions, the Mōghiyā, is often considered a separate caste, but it seems to be no more than the Central Indian variety of the main body. The Bāvariyā of the eastern parts of the upper Ganges valley are apparently quite distinct. They assert Rājput origin and came from Baisvāra, and employ the Pāṇṛē Brāhman of their former residence. In spite of their dark complexion and non-Āryan appearance generally they are not connected by their neighbours with any of the local hill-tribes, and are received on terms of equality by the peasantry and others. The Ahēṛiyā, a tribe found both in the Panjāb and along the Jamnā, is similarly divided. In the north they are hunters and reed-workers and occasionally settle down to life in connection with, but outside, the village community, without any suspicion of criminal tendencies. Along the Jamnā, however, their reputation is that of potential burglars under the guise of mat-makers and collectors of jungle produce.

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They were formerly renowned for the well-planned gang-robberies they effected at long distances from their homes, and like the Bhīls, for the expedition with which a large body could be got together from many different quarters, and melt away imperceptibly as soon as its purpose was served. In the present day, they use the railway, and organise expeditions far away in Bengal and the Panjāb. The caste is peculiar in having no subdivisions, endogamous or exogamous, and the conversion of one of its members to Islām makes no difference in his social position. The Bahēliyā is another example of the same name being borne by separate communities. In Bengal, the caste is said to be akin to the Bēdiyā, mentioned above, and is almost exclusively occupied in hunting and fowling. In Bihār, the Bahēliyā, or Bhūlā, is called a sub-caste of the Dōsādh, but will not hold social intercourse with the latter. In the Ganges valley, again, this caste is said to belong to the Pāsī, whilst in the west, it is affiliated to the Bhīl, and is claimed as kin by the Ahēriyā. In spite of their occupation of fowling, they are not amongst the impure, and though unattached to most of the ordinary Brāhmanic forms of worship, they observe the orthodox festivals and employ the village Brāhman for their own sacrifices. Comparatively few of them are Muslim. So many are now resident in villages that they are no longer to be counted amongst the nomad tribes.

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The same may be said of the Mahtam, a hunting caste of the Panjāb, chiefly found in the Satlaj valley. Only a section of them still live by their traditional use of the noose, and the others are settled cultivators and labourers, with a good reputation for industry and quiet behaviour. Portions of both sections have changed their religion to Islam or the Sikh creed, but preserve withal much of their original habits. There is another community of the same name in the submontane tract of the Panjāb, which seems to be a branch of the Banjarā or Labaṇā caste, and to have made its way from the east, whereas the hunting Mahtam reached the Satlaj from Rājputāna. There is thus no connection between the two. One other caste of the Vindhya belongs to this group, namely the Sahariyā, of Bundēlkhaṇḍ and the neighbourhood. It is said to derive its title from the Savara, a name now reserved to a tribe of the south Orissa hills, but applied by Sanskrit writers to any of the Dasyu tribes of the Central Belt. Beyond a common darkness of colour and similarity in feature, there is no link between the two traceable in the present day. The Sahariyā do not wander about the country more than is necessary to give them a good supply of the jungle produce which they live by selling, and their criminality is confined to petty thefts and an occasional gang-robbery. The caste seems to be subdivided on totemistic lines into a number of exogamous sections.

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They profess Brāhmanism, but worship chiefly their local demons without the intervention of Brāhmans. There is no tradition amongst them of having immigrated from any other part of the country. The other side of the Vindhya presents but few hunting tribes, and those mostly of northern origin. The Vāghrī of Gujarāt, who are apparently the Bāghrī of Central India, say that they are kinsfolk of the Sañsiya of the Panjāb, and came from north Rājputāna. They are now, however, naturalised in the west. In that part of the country they are subdivided according to function, and, where they are numerous, according to geographical sections which do not intermarry. They are still great hunters and bird-snarers. In the latter capacity, they have struck out a new and lucrative line of business with the Jain and other Vāniā, who set a very high value upon animal life. The Vāghrī makes his catch of birds, takes them in cages to the house of the trader, and there offers to kill them or let them be ransomed, knowing that the merit to be acquired by the latter process will outweigh the cost in the mind of the orthodox. They also keep fowls, and rent fruit and other productive trees by the year, selling the crop. Most of them wander during the fair season, but a good many have settled down near villages. They have their own priests or clan-elders (Bhūvā), who perform their ceremonies and regulate the caste generally.

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The Vāghrī, though not quite in the ranks of the criminal castes, has a bad reputation among villagers for theft. In the north Dekkan, indeed, this caste is credited with a good deal of the crime against property, but it is not certain that the sub-castes which operate in that region are not from Central India. Linguistic evidence seems to indicate a Gujarātī origin, but, as stated above, this peculiarity is found in the dialects of tribes far separated from that province. The Phānsī-Pārdhī, however, or snarers of bird and beast, seem to be really a branch of the Vāghrī who have made their home in the Marāṭhā country, where they are occasionally found in the capacity of village watchmen.

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§ 80. It can be easily inferred from what has been set forth in the course of this survey that the importance in the ethnology of India of the pre-Āryan inhabitants can scarcely be overrated. There is, on the one hand, the gradual extension among them of the foreign forms of speech; on the other, the assimilation of their forms of belief into the religious system of those who have dispossessed them of their territory and position. In the preceding portion of this work, too, instances are given over and over

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Up to a certain point all the hunting castes in the Dekkan assert their origin to have bèen in the north. After that, the corresponding castes claim to have come up from the south. The Bēraḍ or Bēḍar have been classed with the watchmen, and so have the Tamil castes now so engaged; but there seems reason to think that all these castes are connected in some way or another with the Vēḍan, Valaiyan, Vēṭṭuvan and similar bodies, the majority of which belong to the hunting or fowling order. What the connection really is has not yet been ascertained. There is, however, a sub-caste of Ambalakkāran bearing the name of Vēḍan, and the whole body claims to be descended from a Vēḍan, and the Valaiyan say that this same hero was the founder of their caste also. The Vēṭṭuvan hold their heads higher, and add the title Vellāḷan to their caste-name, saying that they were imported by the Kongu Chiefs to assist them in the conquest of Kērala. The Vēḍan say they were originally natives of Ceylon, and the Vēṭṭuvan worship Kaṇḍi-amman, the goddess of Kandy, as well as their seven Kannimar, or tribal deities, worshipped also by the Īrula, a more primitive tribe. The Vēṭṭuvan of the interior, again, are distinct from the caste in Malabar bearing the same title. Another small hunting caste in Malabar is the Kuṟiccan, confined chiefly to the Vaināḍ. The former stand higher than the latter, though both are jungle-haunters. The Kuṟiccan, too, have the same abhorrence of contact with the Brāhman that the Paṟaiyan have, and worship a tribal god of their own. It would seem, therefore, that except in the west, these castes are more settled and likely to rise in position than any of those found in the north, and that the members or families which continue to follow the traditional occupation are being gradually relegated to sub-castes below the general level of the rest.